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Tunisan Creole
Tunisan Creole is one of several conlangs created by Sraemoyes for her novels-in-progress. Another, Fylosan, has largely been added to Conlang Wikia. Classification and Dialects As all creoles, Tunisan Creole started as a pidgin. Once upon a time, there was a tribe of Twanic people calling themselves the Umili. They had settled on the Umili River at western the edge of the Fylosan Mountain Range. They entered into a trade agreement and political alliance with a clan of river dragons who acted as pirates. They spoke to each other using a pidgin form of the Twanic language. By the time that the Umili and the river dragons formed a country they called Tunisa, there were several native speakers. Although Twanic remained a ceremonial language, Tunisan Creole became the official academic and business language of the young country. It had two dialects to start off with - a human dialect with sounds and expressions carried over from the Twanic language, and a dragon dialect with sounds and expressions carried over from the Fylosan language. However, the number of dialects grew rapidly as Tunisa started annexing its neighbors and forcing its language upon them. Phonology Consonants Vowels Phonotactics ©V© The only sounds that may end a syllable are vowels, /l/, and nasals. /ɛ/ may only touch another vowel when it's preceding /i/. Stress Stress is usually determined by the first syllable. However, syllables with diphthongs will always be stressed. Writing System Twanic lacked a written system when the Umili first traded with the river dragons, but it was quick to borrow - and adapt - Fylosan. Tunisan Creole does use logographs in its highest registers, but it has an alpha-syllabary for every day use. The alpha-syllabary comes in two scripts: a "grave" script for carving; and a "brush" script for ink and paint. As there is no spacing between words, all the characters that may appear at the end of the word also have a word-final form to signal word boundaries. These word-final forms appear in both scripts. A chart will be given later. Grammar Pronouns Tunisan Creole has seven personal pronouns: one exclusive first person pronoun (meaning that the addressee is excluded); one inclusive first person pronoun (meaning that the addressee is included); one second person pronoun; one third person masculine pronoun, an artifact from Twanic's two-gender system, used to refer to biological males; one third person feminine pronoun, another artifact from Twanic, used to refer to biological females; one interrogative pronoun; and one indeterminate pronoun, for unknown parties and anything that is not covered by any other pronoun. These words are also used as possessive pronouns. Nouns Occassionally, nouns might inflect for inclusivity and exclusivity. When this happens, they will attach ''-se'' to the end of a noun for exclusivity and ''-be for inclusivity. However, nouns do not normally inflect at all. Example: ''fil - mountain sei filse- my/our mountain; not yours, his, hers, etc. vel filse - somebody else's mountain sei filbe - our mountain vel filbe ''- everybody's mountain Proper names do not act as nouns. Verbs Verbs may take one of two tenses: past or present/future. Past - add ''-zali to the base. Present/future - base, dictionary form. Example: geka - come gekazali - came Tunisan Creole has no copula. Syntax SVO language. Adjectives come before nouns. Quantifiers come before nouns. They come before adjectives if present. Prepositions come before nouns. They come before any present quantifiers and adjectives as well. Adverbs come before verbs. Negation comes before the thing it negates. In a verb phrase with adverbs, it comes before the adverbs. With verbs that take three arguments, direct objects must always come before indirect objects. Clause markers come at the very beginning of their clause. Numbers One/first - kasi Two - deza Three - tuasi Four - Five - men Lexicon Agita - Yukalitan (adj) (derogatory). (Yukalita is a neighboring country.) Agitana - Yukalitan (person) (derogatory). Amlon - to poison; poisonous; venomous. Amlona - poison (n); a poison. Amlonkara - Poison Dragon (a highly venomous breed of mountain dragon). Ansu - to believe; to trust; to have faith in; faithful Ansuna - belief; trust; faith; believer Aumigia - to rock Asei - to teach/to educate; to use magic; educational; magical Aseina - education; magic Aunua - to reside/to dwell/to live; to protect; to swear allegiance to; residential; protective; loyal Aunuanau - a soldier Auzo - occurring in; located in. Boken - to be loyal; patriotic Bokenbo - patriotism Den - to set fire; to build a fire; to breathe fire onto something Denden - a maintained fire Dentui - to lose control; out-of-control Dentuiden - a wildfire Dentuni - (name of a city in Tunisa) Depen - alternative; foreign; non-official; rebellious; to rebel Depende - an alternative culture or lifestyle; a foreign culture; a non-official language in a country; a subculture Desi - to carve; to excavate Deside - a mine Deza - two Dilau - quality of life; lifestyle Dilauni - to succeed; successful Dilaunidi - success Dilesni - to live/to survive; living Dilesnidi - life (in general); survival; a living being Dirosin - life expectancy Ege - to cover; water-proof Egene - skin; scales Ekoria - to fall in love; to get to know; romantic Ekoriane - romantic love; a friend (platonic) Ekosi - to tell; to testify in court Ekosine - a claim; an accusation Elei - to fell a tree Eleine - lumber; log; trunk Eleite - a lumberjack Elmi - to go; to travel; far/distant Elmipala - to relocate (on royal orders) Elminel - a journey, travel, a trip En - too; excessively; extra; to exceed Enen - an extra; a surplus/the surplus; excess Esel - up Esel ul - in the tree Eule - to have offspring; related Eulesu - a family; a relative Euteiki - near/close (physical distance); to stay Eutel - Yukalita (a neighboring country); Yukalitan (adjective) Eutelneu - a Yukalitan Euvi - to lie/to deceive/to trick; false; deceitful; deceptive Euvifa - a lie; a deception; a trick Ezi - to sleep Ezil - white; to whiten Ezul - a cradle; to cradle. Note: this is a Twanic compound "ez" (modern "ezi") and "ul." The second word of this compound got the stress, so "e ZUL," not "E zul." Fan - a root (plants) Fil - a mountain Finse - an era Fu - a potion Fuka - to turn into a dragon Fukara - a dragon descended from humans Fune - to turn into a human Funebem - a human descended from dragons Gaife - when Gari - to love/to commit to; committed; deligent Gariave - the mouth of a river Gariga - to marry for love Garigari - a marriage for love Garin - to eat; edible Garinga - food Geka.1 - a citizen Geka.2 - to come; native; Gekage - an arrival. (An event or an arriving boat.) Gifa - to play; fun Gifagi - a game Gileuke - to imagine; creative; imaginative Gileukegi - imagination; creativity Gomua - a dragon chief Gomuavula - any high-ranking dragon who is not a chief Guagua - a citizen from newly annexed territory; a first-generation citizen (short version) Guaka - a citizen from newly annexed territory; a first-generation citizen (derogatory) Guavuoge - to annex Guavuogegua - a citizen from newly annexed territory; a first-generation citizen (long version) Guazau - regional Guazel - Gwazori (an island-based nation) Guazelte - the Gwazori Archipelago Im - to see; visible Imim - vision; eyesight Iosu - to treat well; nice; kind; gentle Iosunio - kindness; gentleness; a favor Ivuase - to meet; acquainted. Ivuaseni - an acquaintance. Kan - the mouth of a river (place names only) Kara - a dragon Kasi - one; first; originally. Kasun - a general; a commanding officer Kaulva - good (generic); high-quality Kaulvakau - the quality Kegeguifo - to buy; to sell Kegeguifoke - business Kiluge - fast/speedy (for land speed); to run Kua.1 - meat; muscle Kua.2 - vicious; cruel; evil Kuakua - a tyrant Kue - masculine Kuete - a male La - a child; a pup; an infant; a seedling Laboka - Laboka (a breed of forest dragon; also the name of a language primarily spoken by Labokas) Lauseite - to benefit; beneficial; healthy Lauseilau - a benefit; health Lausileite - an adviser; a member of the royal household Leige - to experience; seasoned; experienced Leigelei - an experience; experience (N) Leke - a star Leozo - to decompose/decay/rot; rotten Lepe - persuasive; true (not false); correct; wise; to persuade; to correct (factually); to advise Lepele - truth; wisdom; persuasion Li.1 - sentient/intelligent Li.2 - to pirate Li.3 - river (in names only) Libui - a year; yearly Libuisikevo - a birthday Lika - a pirate Lilel - down; under; to fall Lili - delivery service; postal service Lite - a border; territory Lontuaze - a type of Tunisan pole-arm Lua - (negation) Luatui - a developmental problem where a dragon does not know how to access its fire; a pup with this disorder Luvi - a blade; a knife; a sword Mamel - to make/to force to do Man - a house (*obsolete) Megen - stone; rock; a stone; a rock Mei - question marker. Mekueka - Mekwek (name of a neighboring country). Mel - to have something done Mela - to hatch (for species of lesser intelligence) Melmel - a service Men - five Merei - to laugh; to smile; happy Mereime - laughter; a smile; happiness Mia - to argue; to debate; loud; out-spoken Miamia - an argument; a debate Mide - a church (building); a shrine Mie - but Mikei - all; every Mil.1 - a limb (not plants) Mil.2 - sacred; holy; to worship Milmil - a church (organization); a religion; any set of codified religious beliefs Milsuan - the afterlife Mipel.1 - a fishing boat; a fish Mipel.2 - a person who is cold and unfeeling Mitisun - a foreigner Muate - yes Muel - to owe Muelse - a debt; money; tribute Na.1 - about that (discourse marker) Na.2 - a dragon den (dialectal). Na.3 - to carve out a den; sizeable. Nana - a dragon den. Nata - to pave; to build a wall; paved Natana - stone paving; stone walls; tiled roofing; a tile (construction); a tile (game piece) Nebem - a human citizen Ne - to read; literate; legible; literary Nede - a book; a textbook Nel - the sun; bright; to shine Neo - a spouse Neokue - manly; masculine Neokueta - a husband Neopeu - a wife Neosuel - a school Netuimide - a university Ni - to break Niteke - affluent; rich; to inherit Nitekene - inheritance Nua - to construct Nuate - a building Pala - a government; to govern Pesi - to call/to name; famous. Pesikuepe - a human male (shorter form of the word). Pesipe.1 - a name. Pesipe.2 - selfish Pesipua - personal; private; shy; reserved; to hide; to conceal Pesipuakuete - a human male (official form of the word). Pesipuapeu - a human female. Peu - female; a female. Pil - definitely not Pimdi - oppressive; to oppress Pimdipim - a champion; a winner (carries the sense of "at someone else's expense.") Pisa - dangerous; to endanger Pisapi - a danger (also used to cry for help) Rekua - to excel; superior; supremacy Sekuete - a human boy; a young, male dragon Senal - beautiful; good-looking; handsome; pretty. Senalse - a beauty (person); a crush. Senalsen - a beauty (person); a crush (dialectal). Sike - well-lit; to light; to carve lighting runes into something. Sikevo - a light. Sim - a dragon clan Sisipin - a minority group Sizi - to have/to own; rich. Sizisi - ownership; rich person. Sodei - a mixed-species military unit Sual - to sail; to drift Sualsei - a boat (in general) Ta - an egg (of intelligent species) Tage.1 - (unit of weight) Tage.2 - mighty; physically strong; to lift (something heavy) Tageta - physical strength Taltal - a promise; a reputation Talval - a family name; a law Talvaltal - to promise Taramau - the rapids Taramia - fast (when traveling through air or water); a type of river boat Teifa - to fly Teil - alone; lonely; single (relationship status) Teilteil - a bachelor; a bachelorette Tesi - (Tunisan currency) Tuafim - a human king; a human queen Tuasi - three Tuaze - pole-arms (in general) Tui - dragon fire; dragon magic in general Tunisa - (name of country) Tunisa - the Tunisan Peninsula Tureso - (name of a Tunisan terrorist organization) Ua - a shield or a weapon intended for dragon use Uakel - a river Uam - military food; military rations; dry (food); pickled (food); disgusting; unappetizing; yuck; to pickle Uamuam - a pickle Uamoma.1 - a foundling Uamoma.2 - a creature of Fylosan mythology Uasua - (the name of the continent on which Tunisa and most of its neighboring countries hold the majority of their territory) Ueno - by (time) Ufi - to tell a story; fantastical Ufinu - a story Ugel - to annoy; to bother; annoying; a nuisance (person); a jerk (person) Ui - to descriminate; bigoted; discriminatory; unfair Uilo - a bigot; bigotry; discrimination Ukalita - the Yukalitan language Ul - a tree; wood; to plant Ulul.1 - a plant (dialectal) Ulul - wood (dialectal) Umin - Umili University (abbreviation) Use - a map; well laid-out Useikeil - to bend over Useikeilnu - a hunchback Usiga - soil; earth Ulveioka - here Va - as (not time) Val - from the direction of; originating from; through the means of Vasia - to know (a fact) Velein - the wind; to blow Vitua - to hit; to lunge; to sweep (combat); to swing in a horizontal motion); to swipe (combat) Vos - preposition for all generalities (dialectal) Vosa.1 - preposition general time or location Vosa.2 - preposition for precise location Vuadi - to calm/to calm down; calm/peaceful; hello. Vuadivau - peace. Vual - to do Vuisite - hard (not soft) Example text Vuadi. Sei sizi pesipe _____. Hello. My name is _____. (Lit. I have the name _____.) Sei kasi gekazali val _____. I'm from _____. (Lit. I originally came from _____.) Mei sen kasi gekazali val ti? Where are you from? Pesikuepe kasi gekazali val tunisa. The man is from Tunisa. Auzo mekueka bese ivuasezali senal pesipuapeu. He met a beautiful woman in Mekwek. Fun Translation *Of course, this doesn't actually exist in-universe. Rock-a-Bye Baby Aumigia la esel ul, Rocking child in the tree, sen velein aumigia ezul. for you, the wind will rock the cradle. Gaife ul ni, lilel sen When the tree breaks, under you vuisite usiga, megen. will be hard earth and stone.